Disclaimer: Studio Gainax owns Neon Genesis Evangelion. Any other name, or product, are registered, trademarked, and copyrighted by their respective owners. Should they, or their affiliates, request it, I shall remove this fan fiction from the Web. Thank you.

" " : Indicates spoken words.

italics : Indicate thoughts.

] [ : Indicates radio transmissions.

Aberrant Impact

Chapter 2

Tokyo-3, 2015; 3:34 A.M. Rei Ayanami Residence.

The young woman lies sleeping in her apartment. She lay atop of her sheets, wearing a slightly rumpled school uniform. She was laying on her left side, her left arm partially under her. Her right arm was pulled close to her body, her right hand flat under her cheek. Her light blue hair framed her face, a face that looked older than her fourteen years. She is Rei Ayanami, and she is dreaming. Not an unusual event for most people, yet it is not normal for her. Rei does not normally dream, and this is one of the first times for this body. This body is, in all actuality, the third body for the soul that was housed within. She sees images of herself within her dream, of herself speaking with another, that is like her, yet not like her. She also sees memories of herself, and even feels the emotions accompanying those memories

Those were not memories that this body remembered, however. Many of the memories of her second body's experiences remained, yet most possessed no emotions with them. Nothing to make the memories anything more than images held in her mind. She moved in her sleep, rolling over onto her back, and covered her eyes with her forearms. Her voice called out weakly while she slept, as if speaking to someone. "Why are you here? What do you need me for?" Her body, while mostly still, moved slightly, as if she were trying to wake herself.

"I will tell you when you awake, Rei. For now, I must attend to another matter..." From the shadows of Rei's apartment, a shadow moved, and took on a vaguely human shape. It was covered by a flowing cloak, and wore what could be mistaken as a plugsuit were it not made of a nearly sheer, gossamer fine material. The suit covered being's body wherever skin would have been visible under the cloak, and a veil like mask obscured the face from full view. The voice was that of a young woman, soft and distant, bearing a comforting, almost soothing tone to it. The being moved forward, lightly touching Rei's forehead with a cloth covered hand, and brushed a few strands of stray hair from her face. She then leaned down, her voice growing quieter as her lips approached Rei's ear. "I will return, and I promise to answer you. Until then…" Her voice faded to the point that only Rei could hear, if she were awake. And even though she slept, Rei did seem to hear the voice, and began to drift into a deeper slumber. As the being brought her head up from Rei's ear, she kissed the young woman on the forehead, and said as she departed, "Sleep well, my child. Sleep well..." The being stood fully, and moved back into the shadows, seeming to sink into them. She made no sound as she left.

Tokyo 3, 2015; 4:49 A.M. Ruins of Tokyo-3, Internal Communications Bus B-23-ITT, NERV Defensive Structure 35

"Ow, dammit! Why did we have to go for the lowest bidder on our internal networks?" asked the annoyed woman to no one in particular. She was shaking her hand as if it were on fire. Yeah, that one was definitely shorted! the woman, Major Misato Katsuragi, thought. She narrowed her light brown eyes in exasperation, groaning a sigh as the interface connection she was checking sparked once more and died. She shook her head, her hair swayed as she did so. Her hair was cut to between her shoulder blades, and very dark, so dark it shone with purple highlights in the glare of her car's headlights. "OK, so that interface is out!" she remarked, defeatedly. What other ones remain? she asked herself, determinedly. OK, four, five, and seven are dead, that leaves, she thought, looking at a interface plug chart she had been given, Numbers nine and twelve… She consulted the timetable of when the circuits would be in diagnostic mode, giving her an easier time forcing a back door into the MAGI computer system, and looked at her wristwatch. Twelve is dead, and nine only has seven minutes remaining… I hope that seven's my lucky number, and if it is, I owe Makoto big time! She checked for line integrity, and a happy grin lit her face. She proceeded to patch her laptop into the network interface and ran the program that Kaji had giver her, letting a short, happy yelp as the program successfully breached the MAGI database defenses. OK, I'm in! Now to find that damn file… She started the search utility, looking through the database for the top secret documents she needed, quietly urging the search utility to work faster.

"Oh, c'mon you piece of junk, you can work faster than this, can't you?" she asked the laptop. As if in sarcastic response, the database's intrusion countermeasure system kicked back in just as the search program found the data. As she began to download the file, the security program opened a window on her laptop, warning her that she was attempting to access high security information in an illegal manner. "Oh, shit!" she exclaimed loudly, as a voice chat window opened on her laptop Great, not only do I get caught, the tech on duty is trying to tell me to stay put! What next?

"Major?" whispered a familiar voice over the voice chat window, full of concern.

"Makoto? she whispered back, cautiously. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Saving your ass Major!" she smiled at his statement, and felt almost flattered that he was sticking his neck out like he was. "Maya knows about what we're doing, she found out last night."

At this revelation Misato's heart sank a little bit. "How much does she know?" she asked, feeling rather nervous.

Makoto sighed, sounding like he was bracing himself for something. "She asked me to come to her office, and told me she knew I was helping you. I told her everythi…"

He never had the chance to complete the word, as Misato yelled at him over the voice chat. "You did what?!" Makoto didn't answer for several seconds, and Misato could hear the rustle of clothing, giving her the impression that he was looking around to see if anyone heard her yelling at him over the chat window.

"Would you keep it down, Misato, there's nothing to worry about, she's on our side, OK?" he said, sounding as exasperated with her as she had been with the failing interface that had shocked her.

"Sorry!" she whispered, sincerely. "I hope so, because this could get the both of us shot." He cleared his throat, indicating that he already knew that. Misato felt guilty for putting him in that position, and she knew that now there was nothing she could do if either of them, were caught. It was different when she was doing this alone; now that the man she considered a friend and coworker was involved, she felt that she had to protect him as well. Why is he so willing to help me? Well, I owe him really big for this one! she thought triumphantly as the download finished.

"Well, anyway, her office is secure, and I told her what we were doing, and she offered to help. I've known her for a while, when she says that she can be trusted, I believe her!" he said, vehemently.

Misato smiled; she trusted his judgment. "Look, Makoto, I trust her, just be careful, OK?" She thought about the last few minutes, and her face softened into a relieved smile. "Sorry I jumped down your throat a minute ago, I just didn't expect to hear that while in the middle of downloading top secret documents!" she laughed as he grunted non committal agreement. "I owe you big time, remind me of that when this is all over, OK?"

"Will do, Misato!" he replied, now laughing lightly as well. "I'm going to tell Maya that it was just a system bug, she knows what's going on, so she'll back us on it." Misato's smile widened as she heard Maya complaining in an annoyed manner about the systems giving false alarms because of the damage to the city.

"Well, I have to get out of here, I told Shinji that I'd take him to see Asuka today. Take care, OK?"

"You too, Misato, you too." Makoto said as he disconnected. Misato unplugged the laptop from the communications port, closed the laptop, and walked to her car.

She hummed a song absently as she approached her car. She removed her keys from her officer's jacket pocket, and opened her car door, sliding behind the wheel. She set the laptop down on her passenger seat, making sure it wouldn't go flying around her car. She looked around, and seeing no one nearby, started her blue Renault, and peeled out of the area at high speed. She was heading for one of the remaining roadways that was intact enough to drive at high speeds on, and proceeded to do so. She got her vehicle to a speed of two hundred and forty-five Km/h, and decided to cruise home at that speed.

Tokyo 3, 2015; 5:23 A.M. South Bank Apartments

"Oh, dammit, I hope I'm not going to be late!" said an agitated Kieko Yamada as she stepped out the elevator of her apartment, running for her car. The car was a late model Subaru WRX. The small, econo-car based sports car was dark blue in color, sporting large wheels wrapped with low profile tires, slightly lowered suspension, and an aerodynamics package. She deactivated the alarm on the car with a touch of her finger on the keyfob hooked onto her keychain. She knew that the security here at the hospital would not allow her car to be stolen, but having lived in Kyoto 2 for most of her life, where vehicles were stolen, she had gotten into the habit. "Yeah, sure, Hikaru, 'We're celebrating Matoko's marriage, silly! We'll be over at Mari's until her boyfriend gets off work, then you can take me home and you'll be to bed before ten!'…" She said, sarcastically. "Yeah, last time I listen to you, party girl! He wasn't off until almost eight o'clock!" She did not truly hold her friend responsible, as she had enjoyed herself a good deal. She was merely annoyed at waking up so late. "At least I didn't get drunk like you did!" She laughed, remembering how she and her friend's roommate had helped Hikaru up the stairs to her apartment.

Normally, she would have been on the highway, almost to the vehicle escalator that would carry her car down into the Geofront, to the TOKYO-3 NERV Central Hospital, where she worked. However, she had been at her the apartment of her friend Marisa with four other friends until almost nine o'clock the prior night. She had had trouble sleeping, though, and had stayed up until almost eleven thirty studying her doctoral courses. The nightmare she had suffered had not helped, either. Although she was fully rested, she had woken up later than normal, and was thus on the verge of making herself late. OK, if I can catch the escalator by around forty-five after, I should make it soon enough to clock in on time… She smiled, knowing she would have to be moving at a good clip on the highway, and would have to avoid some traffic, even with the significantly lower population of the city.

Not that it matters too much now, considering that there's basically no one here in Tokyo-3. she mused sourly, sliding behind her steering wheel and starting her car. A smile took over her face, and her mood brightened some as she heard the muted whine of the turbocharger over the low rumble of the exhaust. She was suddenly aware that there was a fairly high charge of adrenaline in her system at the prospect of the twenty-seven kilometer drive to work. Not that she was truly a speed junkie, however, she did not mind the occasional excuse to push her car a bit, and she felt the roads should be clear enough for that, with so relatively few people remaining in Tokyo-3. Since the detonation of Unit-00 on the northwestern outskirts of Tokyo-3, almost all of the nonessential personnel had left. Even the apartments that she lived in, which were several kilometers from the outside of the blast, were only at about half occupancy; that had slowly started to change, though, with the threat from the angels presumably over, or at least lessened, if rumor held true. The only ones left in the apartments matched what was currently in the city in general, with essential personnel, such as NERV headquarters operations, security, and hospital personnel, like herself. Not so much seen in her apartments, but still in the remainders Tokyo-3, were ones working on vital construction jobs, NERV and UN military personnel, and ones working in the various support positions for the city and it's remaining people, such as cooks, custodial, and sanitation personnel. That meant that the streets of Tokyo-3 would be mostly clear of traffic, even with it being a time that quite a few people would be heading to or from work. Compared to how the streets had been, however, the streets would seem mostly deserted, with only the occasional clump of traffic to slow her on her way to work.

"Not something I would want to do," she remarked aloud to herself, noticing a youngish man in a NERV Central Hospital custodial employee outfit, as she finished her prior train of thought. "But I guess we all do what we have to do, to get paid… And his is just as important as mine, in a way..." She chuckled at her own musings as she lowered her palm to the gear selector, and rocked it to the right one time. The electronics of the gear selector told the car's sequential manual transmission to shift into gear from neutral, but to keep the clutch engaged until her foot released from the brake and she was starting to move. When she heard the faint click of gears engaging, her smile widened. At this time of the morning, she felt the main highway should be clear enough for her to make it on time for work. She eased out of her parking space, and made her way down two levels to the street. She turned right and after a few blocks, turned left onto the highway onramp. As she drove up the ramp, she selected a song from her CD player that would be conductive to speed. She cycled through the CD's in the stereo system's CD changer, and settled on a track from a CD that her American friend and fellow nurse, Marisa had given her. The song was "Basket Case", by a band called "Green Day". As she pulled onto the highway, she pushed the accelerator to the carpet, flicking up through the gears, soaking in the feeling of being pushed back into her seat.

The blue sports car accelerated quickly, achieving a speed well in excess of two hundred kilometers per hour in less than a minute. Kieko laughed, singing along to the song in her good, if heavily accented, English, thoroughly enjoying the rush. She glanced down at her speedometer, just long enough to gauge her speed. The larger set of numbers the needle pointed at read two hundred and forty Km/h, the smaller numbers indicating one hundred forty four-Mph. Damn! she thought, slightly nervous and excited at the same time, I forgot how this feels! She eased the car around a clump of traffic easily, the four lanes on each side of the road giving her plenty of room. She was starting to feel very relaxed when she saw two groups of traffic ahead of her, one in her lane, one in the other, and another car coming up on the opposite side of the road. The other car she saw was moving at least as quickly as she was. I hope that one doesn't try to take any room away from me! she thought, slowing slightly, just in case. She saw the other speeding car doing the same, as they were both in the fast lane. Well, at least the driver knows what the hell he's doing, he slowed down like me… she complemented, silently.

Suddenly, one of the slower of the oncoming vehicles pulled into the fast lane, forcing the blue car into her lane. "Oh, no… Oh SHIT! SHIT!" she exclaimed, as the rapidly approaching blue car swerved, trying to avoid both the other car and herself. The world slowed. She noticed that if she accelerated, she would have enough space to slip in front of it safely. She made out the make of the car, a slightly older model of Renault. When she was right beside it, she saw that the driver was a woman. She saw a flash of violet highlighted black hair, and a NERV Operations officer's jacket. She also saw that the woman was cursing the other driver, giving her an appreciative, thankful glance with a thumbs up, and avoiding her, in the expanse of time that it took for them to pass each other. As she straightened her car out, she slowed for a moment, to calm herself. It's a good thing she's as good a driver as she was, that would have been horrible… a wan smile touched her lips, and she said aloud, "I'm glad I'm not too shabby myself!" After a moment, she picked up her pace again, hoping that no more incidents like that happened.

Tokyo 3, 2015; 5:43 A.M. Site of the explosion of Evangelion Unit-00.

Shinji stood at the lake that filled the crater formed by the explosion of Rei's Eva Unit-00. He looked out, seeing the irregular edges of the lake near him, shapes that used to be houses, apartments, and shops. He had woken up not twenty minutes ago, and was planning on walking to the nearest decent point into the Geofront. He knew that he would have trouble bringing himself to see Asuka, in her current state, but he felt that if he came here, it might calm him enough to do so. He was a little calmer, but now he found his thoughts wandering to the girl that had, for all intents and purposes, sacrificed herself to save his life. He remembered that so time so clearly, every detail, down to when Misato had been called by Dr. Akagi, who had told her that Rei was alive. But you aren't the Rei I knew, were you… he thought, sighing in remembered pain. "I wish I could make things right, again. But I… I'm just a boy. Just a usele… A useless, cowardly little boy…" he said, sounding pitiful. He turned away from the lake, his thoughts wandering aimlessly. He made his way for the nearest working monorail that would take him down into the Geofront, to go and see Asuka. He did not see the shrouded, vaguely human shape that detached itself from the shadows, and stood in the spot he had just vacated, watching as he dwindled into the distance.

You may have the chance to make things right sooner than you think, young Ikari… the shape thought, deep in contemplation. It all depends upon the decision young Ayanami makes. It sank back into the shadows, disappearing from view, making no sound as it did so.

Tokyo 3, 2015; 5:51 A.M. NERV Central Hospital Parking Area.

Kieko jumped out of her car, hurriedly locking it and activating the alarm from her keyfob. She was cutting things close, in her opinion. After the high speed blast on the highway, she had let the car run on the entire trip down the vehicle escalator, and then for an additional two minutes when she got to the vehicle garage for NERV Central Hospital employees. She liked to take good care of her car, and considering it was turbocharged, that meant letting it run for a minute or two to let oil circulate through the turbo, cooling it so oil did not coat the bearings with sludge. As she walked, fast paced, from her car, she looked at her watch. Early by almost ten full minutes! she thought with satisfaction, a slightly charged expression on her face. Except for that damn blue Renault, the trip was smooth as glass! she thought happily. She made her way over to the elevator that would take her to the floor she worked on, almost giddy. She felt her face fall completely as her stomach grumbled at her. "Oh, great! I'm going to be hungry until lunch comes around…" she muttered to herself, a glum, annoyed expression taking over her features.

The expression didn't last too long, however. "I can't believe you, Kieko!" She smiled happily as Marisa, a tall, slim, yet busty American nurse that worked in the same ward, called out to her, "You're still locking your car up? You know that you don't have to here at the hospital…"

She smiled and waved at her friend. "What do you expect, Marisa? I'm from Kyoto, and my car would be a prime target there!" she laughed, as she called the elevator to go up to their floor. She looked back to her friend, and her smile widened. "It's not like you to be so close to being late, Marisa! You're always here early so you can get breakfast at the commissary! What brought this about today, hmmm?" she asked mischievously, thinking it probably had something to do with the woman's boyfriend, whom had recently asked her to marry him. Kieko entered the elevator and held it for her friend.

"Oh, not much…" Marisa said evasively as she rushed into the elevator. When she was sure that no one else would enter, she beamed an almost lecherous grin to her younger friend. "It's just that my boyfriend cooked me breakfast this morning" she said as the elevator door closed, pulling the collar of her nursing uniform away from her neck a bit, revealing a dark brownish red splotch on her neck, with another just visible by the collar bone. The effect of following the marks was that it drew an imaginary line towards her full, firm breasts. Her smile widened a little, and she winked, "After a little bit of early morning exercise…" she added, letting her voice trail off suggestively.

"Don't let the head nurse see that, she wouldn't like that being so close to visible, you know." she joked, laughing slightly. "So I take it you said yes to his proposal?" she said, her expression changing to all seriousness, hiding that she happy for her friend.

"Of course! Who wouldn't say yes to a man like that?" she exclaimed, shocked that her friend would think anything else. When Kieko giggled slightly, she looked at her friend, annoyance on her face at the young nurse's ability to sound so serious. The elevator stopped at the commissary floor, letting another of the nursing staff they worked with on. Marisa was laughing now, as she glanced at her friend, saying in an almost huffy manner. "Y'know, I hate it when you do that!"

"When I do what?" Kieko asked, her voice and face neutral again.

"Use your damn poker face! At least, that's what I would presume, considering I never see one of you laughing when the other isn't!" said the newcomer, with a small smile on her face

"Yeah, but you girls wouldn't have it any other way, would you?" she queried, smiling again. At the positive responses from her fellow nurses, a mischievous gleam took to her eyes. "Guess what, Hikaru?" she said to the third occupant of the elevator.

"What?" Hikaru asked, turning her attention to her friend, her own eyes mischievous. "Did you finally get a boyfriend?" Kieko barely kept her face straight at the unexpected question, but some surprise, and a little bit of hurt, showed through her mask. At Kieko's almost pained expression, Hikaru looked down slightly, "Um, sorry if I hit a tender nerve, Kei…"

"No, it's all right!" Kieko interrupted, blushing at letting her emotions show so openly. "Its just that my last boyfriend and I didn't separate on the best of terms is all…" she said, giving them a half truth. Although both of the women in the elevator were her good friends, neither had known her for more than six months. Both of her friends looked around, trying to avoid her gaze while she regained her composure, and embarrassed at the conversations turn of events. Kieko took the moment they gave her and composed herself; then, smiling as if nothing had happened, she startled both of them with a giggle. "No this doesn't have anything to do with me, Hikaru! Miss 'I'll always be single!' over there said yes to her boyfriend last night…" she said, and stole a sidelong glance at Marisa, "and then again this morning when he made her his breakf-…"

She couldn't finish her statement however, as a strangled cry of protest came from Marisa. "Kieko! Don't go telling everyone about-!" she stopped, realizing that her friends were laughing, and she felt annoyed, exasperated, and amused at the same time. Instead of yelling at them as was her first impulse, she decided to join them in their mirth. As they ascended, then clocked in to work, they slowly changed subjects from personal to professional, for which Kieko was grateful. Thanks to the nightmare earlier that morning, the memory of her last boyfriend had hit her harder than it had in the last several months.

She sighed, as they separated to their various tasks, wondering why that was. It wasn't like she tended to dwell on things, especially the past. Still, she did feel as if the day would end up being a good one. To combat the memories, she focused on her work. She managed to get ahead of her workload quite quickly, and soon found herself walking towards the nursing station, to fill out her morning reports, almost twenty minutes sooner than normal. It was helpful that a few of the patients had gotten healthy enough to leave the ICU ward since the day before. That was a fact that always made her feel better, and this day, it helped to reinforce her feeling that the day was going to be a good one…